History: Spain

The Spanish national football team represents Spain in international football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The Spanish side are commonly referred to as La Furia Roja (The Red Fury).

Spain are the current European champions, having won the UEFA European Championship in 2008. They also won the European Nations' Cup in 1964 and reached the UEFA Euro 1984 Final. Spain have qualified for the FIFA World Cup twelve times, reaching fourth place in the1950 tournament.

In July 2008, Spain rose to the top of the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in their history, becoming the sixth nation, and the first who has never won the World Cup, to top this ranking. Between November 2006 and June 2009, Spain went undefeated for a record tying 35 consecutive matches —record shared with Brazil— including a record 15-game winning streak.

Founded in 1913.

1950 World Cup

The 1950 World Cup was held in Brazil from June 24 to July 16. Spain were drawn in Group 2, along with England, the United States and Chile. Spain ended the Group stages winning all their matches, and finishing at the top of Group 2.

At this time, the winner of the World Cup was decided not by a single championship match, but via a group format involving the four teams who had won their respective groups in the previous stage. The four teams in the final group were Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden and Spain. Spain failed to record a win (W0 D1 L2)and finished in fourth place. To date, this fourth place finish remains the furthest that Spain have reached in the World Cup.

Spain's leading scorer during the 1950 World Cup was striker Estanislao Basora, who ended the tournament with 5 goals.

José Villalonga era and the 1964 European champions

In 1962, José Villalonga was appointed coach of Spain. Under Villalonga, Spain qualified for the 1962 World Cup but were eliminated in the first round group against Brazil, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico. Two years later they hosted the European Championship, in which they beatRomania, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland to move on to the semifinals. There they beat highly-favoured Hungary 2–1 after extra time. They went on to face the USSR 2–1 before a crowd of more than 79,000 at the Bernabéu in Madrid. Jesús María Pereda put Spain ahead after just six minutes, but Galimzian Khusainov equalised a few minutes later with a free kick. Marcelino Martínez put in a late header to win Spain's first major international title.

As European champions, Spain automatically qualified for the 1966 World Cup, retaining much of the same squad from 1964 and keeping José Villalonga at the helm. However, they failed to progress beyond the first round, defeating only Switzerland and losing to West Germanyand Argentina.

The departure of Villalonga put Spain into another period of mixed results. After winning their group in the qualifying rounds of the Euro 68, they were knocked out by England in the quarterfinals and did not make it to the final tournament held in Italy. Spain did not qualify for another tournament until Euro 76.

Late 1970s and early 1980s

Spain returned to form with an undefeated progess through a qualifying group for Euro 76 against Romania, Scotland, and Denmark, but failed to reach the final stages after a 3–1 defeat by West Germany in the quarterfinals.

The 1978 World Cup witnessed Spain's first World Cup finals appearance since 1966. Spain qualified by finishing top of a group including Yugoslavia and Romania with three wins in four matches. In the finals, Spain were drawn into group 3 with Brazil, Austria, and Sweden. Spain started the finals by losing 2–1 to Austria, but despite drawing with Brazil 0–0 and defeating Sweden 1–0, they were knocked out at that stage.

Euro 1980 saw Spain qualify for the first eight-team European championship by surpassing Romania, Yugoslavia, and Cyprus. At the tournament in Italy, Spain was drawn into group B with the hosts, England, and Belgium. Spain gained only one point after a draw with Italy and again exited without reaching the quarterfinals.

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